1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to medical devices. More particularly, the invention concerns a disposable cover for a stethoscope head and an apparatus for dispensing the disposable cover.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
A stethoscope is an acoustic medical device for auscultation, or listening, to internal sounds in a human or animal body. It is most often used to listen to heart sounds and breathing (breath sounds), though it is also used to listen to intestines and blood flow in arteries and veins. The stethoscope operates on the transmission of sound from the chest piece, via air-filled hollow tubes, to the listener's ears. The chest piece can be placed against the patient for sensing relatively high frequency sound via a diaphragm which is usually provided in the form of a plastic disc. If the diaphragm is placed on the patient, body sounds vibrate the diaphragm creating acoustic pressure waves which travel up the tubing to the listener's ears. In use, the stethoscope is typically applied to the skin of the neck, chest, or back portions of the patient and often becomes contaminated with skin bacteria and like contaminants that can undesirably be transmitted to the next patient unless the portions of the stethoscope that come in contact with a patient are sterilized after each use. The transmission of bacterial infections among patients, particularly in a hospital setting, has been aggravated by the development of antibiotic-resistant strains of staphylococcal infections. It is this problem that the apparatus of the present invention seeks to overcome by providing a novel stethoscope cover and a dispensing apparatus for quickly and easily dispensing the stethoscope cover.
A number of different types of stethoscope covers and apparatus for dispensing the covers have been suggested in the past. Exemplary of such prior art is the stethoscope cover and dispensing apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,134 issued to Stark, et al. The Stark, et al., patent discloses a stethoscope head cover which overlies the diaphragm of the stethoscope and the surrounding rim thereof and which is fabricated from a thin sheet of plastic with a discontinuous layer of peelable adhesive on one surface of the plastic. The discontinuous layer of adhesive is in a predetermined pattern and the pattern is selected so that air passageways are provided from the regions between the cover and the diaphragm and past the rim to regions external the stethoscope. The cover generally comprises a flat, thin plastic sheet with the discontinuous layer of a peelable adhesive applied to one surface of the sheet. The adhesive adheres to both the diaphragm and the rim of the stethoscope leaving the aforesaid air passages for eliminating trapped air pockets or bubbles between the diaphragm and the cover.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,187 issued to Appavu discloses a disposable stethoscope cover diaphragm that is removably attached over the outer edge of a stethoscope high frequency pickup in order to isolate the pickup from pathogens contacted when the stethoscope is used to examine a person. The cover diaphragm can be used as the diaphragm of a stethoscope pickup and can be used with a diaphragm supplied with the stethoscope. After the cover diaphragm has been used it can discarded and destroyed or, alternatively, can be cleaned for reuse.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,897 issued to Ross, et al., discloses a dispenser for use in dispensing disposable stethoscope diaphragms for removable attachment to a stethoscope head, where the diaphragms are supplied in a stacked array in a tube. The diaphragms are dispensed by a plate slidably mounted on the base for movement between retracted and extended positions. A cradle formed in the plate receives a single diaphragm through the opening when the dispensing plate is in its retracted position. Movement of the dispensing plate from its retracted to extended position is effective to place a diaphragm in the plate cradle in a position that allows the diaphragm to be attached to a stethoscope head by pressing the stethoscope head against the diaphragm.